Lucille Clifton Lucille Clifton
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Clifton // Blossoming into old age Kate
Blossoming into old age
I really like Lucille Clifton's poem ("there is a girl inside"); it just struck me right away. I tried to do a little research on Clifton, and I didn't find a whole lot--only short biographies of major dates in her life and some more of her poetry--but I found the following poem by her which I had seen before and liked a lot as well. I also read Steph's posting which gave some background into some of Clifton's message and purpose.
Steph said that "Lucille Clifton is known for her transgression of "regular" or societal thought. She takes what could be overused topics and twists and turns them into something extraordinary. Clifton addresses such things as aging, female body image, slavery, racism, traditional religion, etc. She takes issues from the past and weaves them into her poem so that a new understanding of the present evolves." Both of these poems seem to "transgress from regular thought," and that's what i think strikes me so much. The two poems both seem to challenge our societal ideas of womanhood.
In the poem we read for class, the first stanza talks about the youngness, the "girl" still exisiting in an old woman, "randy as a wolf." An old woman still has the wildness of a young girl. This seems a somewhat surprising, unusual image for our society. It seems like often as women get older, they lose their place. They are seen as "old" and "frail," maybe even boring. This idea is manifested in the fact that Hollywood doesn't have very many parts for aging actresses, but older male actresses are still very much in demand, playing right beside young, twenty-something beauties. In this poem, however, the old woman is not frail but instead "she is a green tree / in a forest of kindling." That's a wonderful image, I think. The next stanza, "she has waited / patient as a nun / for the second coming, / when she can break through gray hairs / into blossom," is a great image also, the idea of blossoming into old age. It makes me think of my grandma, who is (still) a wild, free, adventurous spirit. I think in some ways she really has "blossomed" into that, that she is more wild and free than she was in her young age. This is a wonderful idea.
I think overall, Clifton challenges our ideas of old age, especially towards women. She writes of it as a time of rebirth, of new beginnings, of wildness. There is much powerful, striking imagery in the poem to challenge the images of old age we have all acquired. Also so with the poem "Homage to My Hips" below.
Homage to My Hips
Lucille Clifton
these hips are big hips.
they need space to
move around in.
they don't fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don't like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top!
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Clifton // the inner child Anne
Lucille Clifton
b. 1936there is a girl inside
she is randy as a wolf.
i looked up "randy" on dictionary.com. the first entry states its meaning as: "uninhibited sexuality." the word randy is quite the contrast to "girl." i think of a girl as being too young to be "randy." what is this girl inside of? an older woman perhaps? from these two lines, i feel a sense that the girl is trying to break through to the outside.
she will not walk away
and leave these bones
to an old woman.
the girl refuses to give in to her outside appearance of an old woman.
she is a green tree
in a forest of kindling.
the girl is young, like a green tree, who won't die in a fire, who won't give in to old age
she is a green girl
in a used poet.
"green girl" is nice alliteration. i see "used poet" as the outershell of the older woman. on the inside, t his woman is a girl, young, fresh, and new, like a seedling.
she has waited
patient as a nun
for the second coming,
when she can break through gray hairs
into blossom
this makes me think that the girl has been patiently inside, waiting for a long time. what is the second coming? it reminds me of the second coming of Christ. it's as if the older woman will be reborn.
it is as if the girl inside is waiting for someone to say, "okay, you can be young again" and her true identity is revealed. i know many "senior citizens" who may older in life, but are really young at heart. how many times do we even recognize the elderly in our society?
and her lovers will harvest
honey and thyme
and the woods will be wild
with the damn wonder of it.
lovers? they are a new subject. the girl will have lovers, the older woman is no more. it is like the sexuality of
the woman is emerging once again. i don't think the sexuality was missing, it was just buried. i like the
sound of the words: "woods will be wild." the words "woods" is another nature image, "blossom" was used in the stanza above, and "wolf" was used in the first section.
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Clifton // Transgression Steph
Transgression
Lucille Clifton b. 1936
there is a girl inside
she is randy as a wolf.
she will not walk away
and leave these bones
to an old woman.
she is a green tree
in a forest of kindling.
she is a green girl
in a used poet.
she has waited
patient as a nun
for the second coming,
when she can break through gray hairs
into blossom
and her lovers will harvest
honey and thyme
and the woods will be wild
with the damn wonder of it.
First of all, Lucille Clifton is one of my beginning to be favorite poets. I have only read two short books of her poetry so I don't know her too well but fairly. Lucille Clifton is known for her transgression of "regular" or societal thought. She takes what could be overused topics and twists and turns them into something extraordinary. Clifton addresses such things as aging, female body image, slavery, racism, traditional religion, etc. She takes issues from the past and weaves them into her poem so that a new understanding of the present evolves.
I think a little from most of these themes is present. The poem starts out with something we are not used to: "there is a girl inside / she is randy as a wolf." Since when do we associate females with "randiness"? Or even wolves and "randiness"?* Here we see a glimpse of wildness and something similar to Holm's poem, "Advice." The poem goes on to explain how there is a girl present within the midst of the bones of an "old woman." Clifton seems to tell us that old age doesn't necessarily kill our "inner child" or even an exuberance within us.
The third stanza sticks out to me as the catching point, especially with its relationship with the fourth stanza. Clifton describes this young girl living within an old woman waiting "patient as a nun" and I think we all can derive a sharp association with these words--or at least I can. She's waiting "patient as a nun / for the second coming" as if this is Christ's rebirth and these lines are very religious but then wait--she has waited for this second come so she could "break through gray hairs / into blossom"...she loses the sense of her age, and the weight of it and flourishes into "blossom" after she breaks out of the old age shell.
So we have this image of a girl who is "randy as a wolf" but also "patient as a nun." The next stanza, which is still a part of the sentence from the stanza before, goes on to say "and her lovers will harvest / honey and thyme." We have this young girl who is in touch with her sexuality in a wild sense, in a wolf way, who has these lovers who are gathering honey and thyme. But she is also like a nun and that phrase is stuck in between these rather sexual lines, leaving us with this sense of wildness and uncertainty. How are piety and sexuality intertwined or aren't they? Clifton seems to be making them interchangeable, leaving "the woods [to] be wild / with the damn wonder of it," it being this girl captured inside an old woman who has blossomed from the second coming. I see this poem as having a very religious undertone and a very sexual undertone and the two kind-of working together in an unexpected fashion that leaves our senses a bit bewildered.
*dictionary.com defines "randy" as:
1. a. Lascivious; lecherous.
b. Of or characterized by frank, uninhibited sexuality.
2. Scots. Ill-mannered.
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Clifton // youthful aging Jen
Lucille Clifton
there is a girl inside
she is randy as a wolf.
The sexuality of a woman is not usually referred to with this kind of freedom. The metaphor of the wolf implies a wildness and a predatory instinct that is not usually associated with women, who are "supposed to be" of more delicate concerns. Since girl is coupled with this intense view of sexuality, girl does not necessarily imply young of age, but rather seems to be a slang term. Something like the use of girl in "You go girl!" A term of power and affection, a striving for or toward something specific.
she will not walk away
and leave these bones
to an old woman.
This portion of the first stanza seems to be a reference to the frustration of the speaker of the poem, who seems to be an old woman, slightly tired of her youthful sense of sexuality. The speaker seems to be one who wants to relax and rest in the face of her inner wild nature. In other words, the speaker seems incapable of following through with the natural and powerful instincts of the girl within her.
she is a green tree
in a forest of kindling.
she is a green girl
in a used poet.
The girl inside of the old speaker is the youthful portion of the woman, the one that will not go away. She is green and slow to burn, slow to grow tired and give up all, in the midst of a forest of quick burning kindling, which becomes exhausted in a moment. Only the green girl holds on to life and will not give in within the used poet, who has put names to experiences and emotions in life.
she has waited
patient as a nun
for the second coming,
when she can break through gray hairs
into blossom
This portion of the poem sounds like a search for rebirth. The girl inside of the elderly poet is waiting for a release or reincarnation of life, uninhibited by the restrictions of age and maturity. The girl is the green tree that will not quickly burn, just as she is a nun of eternal patience, awaiting her time, in which she can break the bonds of gray haired age and become new and fresh again.
and her lovers will harvest
honey and thyme
The lovers of the girl, once she breaks the bonds of age will find in her a sweetness which they didn’t find in the old woman in her age. Perhaps this is part of a memory, a wish for a different time or place in which the girl’s desires were possible either in the future or in the past. If the theme of rebirth is correct in the previous passage, this could be the woman expressing the desire for the future and the rebirth of the girl inside of her.
and the woods will be wild
with the damn wonder of it.
The forest of kindling that is the old woman will watch in amazement as she re-experiences or relives, or becomes that which she cannot have at this moment. The elderly woman cannot allow the girl to shine through because of either physical or mental constraints, so at some point, she will amaze the world.
This poem reminds me of the way I tend to look at the elderly… ie. Mostly helpless, with fairly unexciting lives. However, my mom, who just turned 60 years old last August said that she thought 60 was old, until she actually got there. She tells me that she doesn’t feel any different on the inside, even though her outside has changed and she can’t do the things she once did. In other words, she is a twenty year old Katy in the body of a 60 year old Kathryn. This is what I see in this poem. The youth of an aged woman struggling against the bonds of time and desiring to throw it back in the face of all who watch her struggle in the future. - jen
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Clifton// Kevin
Lucille Clifton (no title given)
There is a girl inside
She is randy as a wolf
She will not walk away
And leave these bones
To an old woman
I picture a sweet old woman, sitting on her porch in the summer time in a rocking chair sipping lemonade, watching the world go by. She wonders what it would be like to go play ball with the children again, to walk in the park with the young parents, maybe even what it would be like to have a trist with the mail man. One day, she decides she will go across the street and play hop scotch with the kids. Her body may be old, but her spirit certainly isn't. She still has lots of living to do.
She is a green tree
In a forest of kindling
The woman refuses to be blown down by the winds of time. Whereas all her surrounding trees have long since succumbed, she stands tall and proud. The rest of the forest is ready to be immolated by the smallest spark, they live a very precarious existence. But her tree is green and full of life.
She is a green girl
In a used poet
This is most probably autobiographical. Clifton is the young vivacious girl who is still young and inexperienced; green. And at the same time, she realizes she is an old poet, an old woman.
She has waited
Patient as a nun
For the second coming
She is waiting for some event to happen. To find a second husband perhaps? The lines that follow would certainly suggest this. Another possibility that I came up with is that the second coming is her own death, when she will be reborn into the kingdom of God.
When she can break through gray hairs
into blossom
In heaven, we aren't weighed down by aged bodies. She waits for the day when she can break free and run likes she hasn't run in years.
And her lovers will harvest
Honey and thyme
And the woods will be wild
With the damn wonder of it
Her loved ones here in the flesh will be filled with her memories, and the joyous spirit with which she lived, and the hosts in heaven will throw her a great party. She does not plan to go out with a whimper, no way. The whole woods will know what has happened and they will be happy for her and happy for having known her.
Just an idea,
I am very interested to see what the rest of y'all came up with.
~kevin
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Clifton// call her green Rachel
Lucille Clifton's poem reminded me of a song by Joni Mitchell:
Little Green
Born with the moon in Cancer
Choose her a name she will answer to
Call her green and the winters cannot fade her
Call her green for the children who have meade her
Little green, be a gypsy dancer.
He went to California
Hearing that everything's warmer there
So you write him and letter and say, "Her eyes are blue."
He sends you a poem ans she's lost to you
Little green, he's a non-conformer.
Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the Northern lights perform
There'll be iceicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow.
Child with a child pretneding
Weary of lies you are sending home
So you sign all the papers in the family name
You're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed
Little green, have a happy ending.
Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the Northern lights perform
There'll be iceicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow.
(Joni Mitchell)
I'd be interested to hear other peoples' interpretation of or thoughts on the song if anyone every wanted to do one of their responses to this post. The idea of winters not fading "little green" reminds me alot of the green girl inside that lucille talks about. And all the things joni relates to the color green, the color when the spring is born, the nights when the northern lights perform, and the crocuses... it puts emotions and specific memories of ours with the color green. It gives green a personality, as Lucille gives her a wild personality, perhaps joni's green is a little more sorrowful, but I'd like to think she's a non-conformer. Since I heard this song i've imagined that if i ever had a baby girl, i'd name her green so she'd be a gypsy dancer. "Call her green for the children who have made her" makes me thing her parents must be young and wild. When lucille calls the little girl randy, i think of england, and brittish humor, and a wild playful sensuality and just plain horneyness (if that's a word). But randy like a wolf... what could that be? I think of the japanese animated movie, Princess Mononoke, that came out this fall. Here are the images I have in my head of princess mononoke. She is a girl who was raised by wolves, and she is fiercely loyal to the and associates herself with them. A very wild individual, yet full of life. compaired with other humans, she is "a green tree in a forest of kindling" I would recommend the movie to anyone, just in case you were wondering. It is wonderfully insightful and thought provoking commentary on human civilization and our treatment of eachother and the natural environment, but you won't come away with it knowing the filmmaker's opionions, and you might not be so sure of your own.
I was particularly taken with Lucille's lines seeming to refer to herself, such as, she will not walk away/ and leave these bones/ to an old woman. and She is a green girl/ inside a used poet and When she can brak through grey hairs/ into blossom. These images are striking. At first i didn't connect with the last line of the thirt strophe, but now I see grey hair litterally blossoming. the grey hair becomes the stem for the tiny, beautiful, abundanat and brightly colored flowers. And the green girl, in the forest, inside the used poet. I wonder if Lucille herself feels used. The last three lines of the first strophe sort of haunt me. I'm not sure that I understand them, but something in them speaks to me, and I am drawn in. In to wondering and into silence and into thoughts that I need to live this moment, and the next, and not leave my bones at all. And I hope I never think of myself as an old woman, and I hope the green girl has plans for my bones
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Holm and Clifton//The source of strangeness Adam
To reply to Stephanie and Sersch.
First to Sersch - Let’s note some lines of "Advice" and Clifton’s poem:
. "He hasn’t noticed yet the woman" from Holm and "There is a girl inside" from Clifton–
I think the key to interpreting these poems is in this "already there quality" of the inner woman. Sersch seemed frustrated that Holm only portrays women as saviors of men because they are exotic/other. But I think Holm is saying they are another part of us, as men, that we just have not taken into account. In this way, the woman is very much familiar because she has been inside all along, the strangeness comes not from encountering a foreign entity, but from remembering, or revisiting a part of the self. Note – Clifton writes, "There IS a girl inside", we don’t need to invent her. I think Holm believes there is a girl inside of men too, they just don’t listen to her, they don’t "notice" her in all the loudness of their manworld.
I enjoyed Stephanie’s comment that the source of strangeness in the Clifton poem is in the contrast of religious imagery and the sexual/wild energy of the poem. But what stands out to me is how she reconciles these supposedly opposing forces. She brings us into biological gestation and birth through the image of a nun waiting the resurrection of her god. The harvesting by the lovers only completes the binding of religion and sex/reproduction. She draws such a smooth parallel between these two worlds with the common goal of blossoming – of coming forth, becoming full.
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